DEFENCE BURDEN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23227, 22 December 1938, Page 11

DEFENCE BURDEN

IMMIGBATION QUESTION DOMINIONS' ATTITUDE CRITICISM BY LORD MARLEY AUSTRALIA'S OPEN SPACES By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright LONDON, Dec. 15 Dominions that refuse to fill their open spaces may encourage attack, then call on Britain to aid them in defending themselves. Lord Marley put this argument, with special reference to Australia, in the course of a House of Lords debate on refugees.

"Take "Western Australia," said Lord Marley. "There are areas there completely uninhabited, where Australians themselves and, I understand, the Western Australian Government, strongly favour the settlement of a million people; yet nothing is done because the Dominion Governments have pronounced, broadly speaking, against the project." x . "The Dominion Governments," said the Earl of Plymouth, Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Foreign Office, "are giving urgent attention to this matter, but as the House knows only too well, they alone can speak for what they are doing or are prepared to do. "I do not feel that I can say anything further at the moment. I only wish to refer to the fact that the Australian Government has undertaken to accept 15,000 immigrants, spread over three years." The British Government had been able to admit a considerable number of immigrants without encroaching on the labour market, Lord Plymouth added. For instance, it had allowed into Britain nurses and domestic workers. Special facilities were being provided for refugees capable of undergoing training, particularly in agriculture.